Rasmussen Poll: 66 Percent Say Income Not Keeping Up With Inflation

Two-thirds of U.S. adults working full-time say their income is not keeping up with inflation, Rasmussen Reports found.

Rasmussen asked working adults, “Over the past two years, has your income kept up with the rate of inflation?”

A total of 66% of respondents say their income has not kept up with the rate of inflation. That’s up 11 percentage points since October, when 55% of full-time workers said their income hadn’t kept up with inflation.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey also found that 51% of full-time workers say they have worked more hours or taken an extra job to help keep up with inflation; 47% say they have not.

These findings are unchanged from the October survey.

More Democrats (33%) with full-time jobs say their income has kept up with inflation, compared to Republicans (30%) or the unaffiliated (23%), Rasmussen found.

Among those who work full-time, majorities of every racial category – 64% of whites, 62% of Blacks, and 71% of other minorities – say their income has not kept up with inflation over the past two years.

Lower-income workers seem to have been hardest hit by inflation.

Rasmussen survey results show that 58% of people earning less than $30,000 annually, and 63% of workers earning between $30,000 and $50,000, say they have worked more hours or taken an extra job to help keep up with inflation.

Meanwhile, 38% of those with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000, and 19% of full-time workers earning more than $200,000 annually, say they’ve worked more to keep up with inflation.

Annual inflation in the U.S. cooled last month yet remained elevated in the latest sign that the nation’s price surge of the past two years is only gradually and fitfully coming under control.

Tuesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the consumer price index rose 0.3% from December to January, up from a 0.2% increase the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices are up 3.1%.

Among all adults, 53% say they have a full-time job, and 47% say they are not currently employed full-time, Rasmussen found.

A total of 65% of adults under 40 are employed full-time – up from 61% in October – as are 58% of those ages 40 to 64 and 19% of those 65 and older.

The Rasmussen Reports survey was conducted Feb. 8, 11-12 among 1,019 U.S. adults. The margin of sampling error is percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.